


Heirs to the Glimmering World

by dayofjubilee



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, College, Drama, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, My First Work in This Fandom, Post Bartlett Administration, Romance, Smut, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28411470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayofjubilee/pseuds/dayofjubilee
Summary: CJ and Danny are in New York for CJ's talk on a symposium at Columbia and where Toby accidentally introduces them to a group of his former students. After Matt Santos's re-election loss to Ray Sullivan, Josh travels to New York too to catch up with the gang and confront things he had pushed off.
Relationships: Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler, Ann Stark/Toby Ziegler, C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler, Danny Concannon/C. J. Cregg, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Tabitha Fortis/Toby Ziegler
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	1. Bloodbuzz

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing here, English is not my native language so I apologize in advance for the syntax mishaps, and this is is still a WIP
> 
> 1) Most chapters will be insterspersed with song lyrics due to the loop of The National's discography I holed into lately  
> 2) I stayed in canon on some but deviated on some too as I took the liberty of somewhat imagining TWW picked up by HBO post-Bartlet  
> 3) This was inspired by a fic entitled 'Don't Marry Her, Fuck Me' and will focus on Toby's relationships as well as the OCs' that sort of mirror TWW staffs' current holdups  
> 4) Feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
> 
> All characters belong to Aaron Sorkin, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros., & NBC. Title belong to The National. Songs used belong to their copyright owners

December 2010

Toby already saw her through the thick glass walls of the roomy restaurant, across the snow-filled road, waiting for a signal to legally cross. Her commanding tall frame hid her frazzled mien well from ordinary onlookers. She scanned the grove of grumbling and guffawing yuppies, the soft thud of a paper cup laid on a round oak table, and the noiseless puff of a cigarette, until she found him and both exchanged brief pleasant smiles. 

Despite a slight hint of exhaustion, she was still a sight to behold, well, always had been - in the midst of an engrossed crowd in the lecture circuit, sloshed at a hotel rooftop serenading and prancing around a makeshift platform to Estelle’s American Boy, hell he’d bet all the money in his pockets even in the situation room among chauvinist sharks with three hours of sleep.

As if the waiter knew his companion was about to arrive, the warm and crusty complimentary bread was served. He uttered his thanks and stood to meet her as she came in, grinning like a little boy finally able to catch his favorite baseball player’s attention.

“Hey, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” CJ greeted kissing him on the cheek.

“And you, look exhausted,” Toby gleamed. She sighed as he ushered her to her seat.

“It’s the jetlag,” she replied flatly.

“Just the jetlag?” he teased. She sardonically rolled her eyes and started looking at the menu in front of her.

“Exhausted mind you, but lovely all the same,” he drawls. 

“Alright enough with the pleasantries Brzezinski, I’m famished. Which pasta should I pick?”

“I don’t know much about the pasta here Clemenza but you should try their beet & goat cheese salad. It’s…”

“You’re really heavy on the salad now? For real?”

He scoffed and called on the waiter. The young man animatedly cited the gnocchi and linguine as the patrons’ go-to’s and the recommended wine pairing for both just in case. CJ opted for the former and the salad. Toby added soup, a roasted butternut squash salad, a side of rosemary roasted potatoes he insisted CJ will thank him for later, and they both agreed to share a striped sea bass.

“Just sparkling water for both of us,” Toby finished.

“Great. Your order will be ready within twenty minutes,” and both thanked the sprightly fellow.

“What?” Toby acerbically asked when CJ kept looking at him funny.

“You didn’t want steak?”

“Honestly CJ, for the last four years I undertook the noble endeavor of tasting the entire spectrum of New York Steak cooking imaginable on the known planets”.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“So, any tips for my foray into your grandiose turf tomorrow Professor Ziegler?”

His tremendous, hearty laugh, that rare sort which seemed to shave decades of weariness off of his face, startled him a little too. CJ's disarming mirth only ratcheted it up.

They caught up on his holiday plans with Andi and the twins, that Charlie called and told him he and Deana will be at the Moxy on the 29th until the New Year, and of his flight to Sao Paulo on February for a conference to present a paper he co-authored on the effects of domestic political leadership turnover on the early termination of foreign bilateral military alliances.

"I assume Jed Bartlet approved?"

"Exactly like Andi after reading the final draft - marginally enraptured at the beginning, then apoplectic, and after some bickering, liquor, and peaceful slumber, sanity prevailed."

Their food arrived as CJ's phone chimed an unfamiliar hymn. She gracefully snickered at the message she received.

"Danny will meet us in your home turf because apparently, a meeting with the Times's chief editor meant two hours of just ordering lunch."

“Okay, now I can sneak you in an underground poker club I know four blocks from here so you could play to pay for my debts.” 

They devoured their lunch like the voracious wolves they have ostensibly become.

She reeled off on her exasperation with the Ugandan government curtailing the foundation's progress in the North despite brokering a logical and what Hollis deemed optimal strategy to their proposed infrastructure. The initial resistance of the Ancholi leaders and their people from fear of the LRA's retribution was a grueling negotiation. She mentioned that Charlie also called to check if she'll be staying until the New Year and that he was sorry he will miss her talk. She also recounted her nagging hourly need to check on her daughter despite knowing perfectly well that Thea will be fine with Danny's sister.

She was finishing the last pieces of roasted potatoes when she piped up with, “Have I already told you that you look really well? I mean besides the salad and fish lifestyle, Toby, have you been working out?”

Her extraneous inquiry was answered by his short, sarcastic laugh and a snippy “It was a bet.”


	2. Let Her Treat You Like a Criminal

CJ was bemused when Toby was saved from a more elaborate anecdote that she wanted to get wind of as a lanky, spectacled lad approached and greeted the older man. 

"Hey Professor Z!" his dark, lustrous quiff was like a crow’s wings shimmering under the Santa Monica beach sun but she was distractedly drawn to his prominent jawlines almost too impressive, CJ wondered if sleep deprivation made out a Madam Tussaud wax figure figment to talk to Toby.

The charming lad turned to CJ and she immediately knew that he recognized her. He introduced himself without any qualms except for his boyish grin turning to a shy smile.

"Hi Miss Cregg. I'm Vince, one of Professor Ziegler's former scourges...students." Toby scoffed and raised his eyebrows, an amused expression plastered on his face. 

"It is an honor to meet you," Vince continued. He took off the glove from his right hand which was previously shoved in his navy full zip jacket and offered his bare hand to CJ. She gladly took it, the unbidden warmth jolting her a bit.

"You should know CJ that impressing everyone with wry off the cuff remarks is his favorite policy." 

"Oh, you wound me Professor Z and I thought you were one to never state the obvious," Vince retorted, feigning hurt and dismay.

"Professor Ziegler here used to be fond of that policy too," CJ quipped. Vince sniggered as Toby scowled.

Another student arrived sporting a crew cut and a distinct anchor beard that accentuated his full lips. He stood beside Vince and nodded to acknowledge Toby as "Mister Z", a faint dimple playing at the corner of his right cheek. 

Besides a heavy coat that was a dashing fit to his wiry build, CJ also noticed the full four-capacity take out cup carrier he was holding. It had a frappe with a non-humanly possible excessive amount of whipped cream, one large-, and two regular-sized paper cups.

"Wow. The GPS spyware you put on my phone finally worked?" Toby satirically questioned motioning towards the drinks the young man was carrying. 

The query was soon forgotten as the fashionable bloke turned towards CJ. 

"Oh, Hi Miss Cre…" 

"Dee, this is Claudia Jean of the House Cregg-Concannon, First of Her Name, the Unhinged, Queen of the African Highway Infrastructure, Khaleesi of the Great Santa Monica Seas, Breaker of Hearts and Private Funding, and Mother of Goldfish. CJ, this is Dee, another one of my former…scourges," Toby interrupted with his playful tirade. 

"What is surprising there was really not that I am unhinged but that you've evidently read that epic fantasy novel when you said you would never de Bergerac and nice to meet you too Dee." 

The young men brazenly simpered while Toby sneered staring at the empty platters on the table.

“It’s..” Toby was interrupted by a loud ringtone of a rich, smooth baritone crooning 

_Never look her in the eyes_  
_Never tell the truth_  
_If she knows your paper_

“What the…,” Dee muttered as he fumbled through his pockets to get his phone.

_You know she'll have to burn you_

He tilted his head with an accusatory glare at Vince. Dee gracefully asked CJ and Toby to be excused and the music stopped once he answered the phone. The other boy simply kept shaking his head trying to claim innocence.

* * *

November 2010

_Never tell the one you want that you do_  
_Save it for the deathbed_  
_When you know you kept her wanting you_  
_And do everything she'd never do_

That jarring song Andi’s reckless and frankly, idiotic new neighbors blasted loud enough the whole Maryland 5th district might have heard was still humming in his head. Toby soberly sat on the bed and shivered from the dawn’s frigid gust of wind. He picked up his strewn clothing on the treacherous, bare floor where he almost slipped last night while Andi was ardently taking off his sweater. He wore the lower garments he gathered and remembered that he haphazardly threw his side of the plush comforter. She must be feeling cold now. He was about to fix that when she stirred.  


“Toby? Toby, stay for a while,” Andi gently implored half-asleep.

_Fall asleep with stranger's wives_  
_The wild wives of unknown men_  
_Good for you, you've just become_  
_Just another one of them_

They both relented again to this cycle of fervid undressing propelling to unceasing caresses that took his breath away each time, and to rousing a seemingly unending inquisition of each other’s skin as if those were roadmaps to novel unconquered colonies. He inferred that this was yet another phase of election year rush- the ambivalence of the highs and lows of campaigning, the ambiguity during the kick off and the certitude of the outcome once it wraps up, the intensity of strategic planning on idealistic agendas to serve the voters’ interests and the waning ardor to the practical once reality hits, that legislation is mostly compromise.  


It was over now, she won as the people’s representative, back at a staggering eighty percent, yet here they were, still. He thought perhaps this time it was the alcohol.

“I’m just going downstairs to make coffee,” he replied trying to mask the cynical elation at her demand.

“Just lay here for a bit.”

_Never say you miss her_  
_Never say a word_

He should be admonishing her to clothe herself because the twins could wake up any minute and knock defiantly at their locked door to demand breakfast and that she should keep herself warm from the biting cold; but he capitulated and laid, half-clothed this time, beside her. She snuggled up against him and he lapped up the sensation of her fragile, mellow warmth overlaying his rough, clammy body.

Toby gently stroked the length of her radiant auburn hair until he reached the ends and moved to the small of her back. Her sultry purr almost made him give in to his raw, unbridled, carnal striatum or whatever part of the brain responsible for that is.

“Andi, we should stop doing this,” he tries to articulate in a hollow, distant murmur.

_Don't let her see your cardinal eyes_

“Doing what?”

“This, whatever this is.”

 _Let her treat you like a criminal_  
_So you can treat her like a priest_  
_Girls forgive my human mind_  
_Girls forgive me one more time_

“You mean this thing called fucking by two responsible, consenting adults?” she jabbed at him.

It was too early to say another stupid thing so he yielded to the grim silence.

“Did the therapist…?” concern and a trace of disappointment were apparent in her tone.

“No,” he curtly replied, imperceptibly still caressing the small of her back. He had a sudden urge to hold her closer so that he would be nuzzling her disheveled, fiery hair, and so he did. He helplessly wracked the left side of his brain on something, anything resembling rational thinking and dire consequences. Instead, he shamelessly placed a brief and chaste kiss on her head.

She looked up at him, amused, and returned the gesture with a wanton, charged, profound kiss on the mouth that floored Toby. It reminded him of friendly ghosts in long-abandoned houses waiting to read farewell notes left for them in secret crevices or hearken back whispered memories into ancient orifices.

He matched her fervor. He lavished her delicate, slender neck with the same deep kisses, moved onto her elegant shoulder blades, and to her lovely, pert breast as he fondled the other.

 _Jesus Christ you have confused me_  
_Cornered, wasted, blessed and used me_  
_Forgive me girls I am confused_  
_Stiff and pissed and lost and loose_

Her delightful moans were like the thrumming of strings congruous with tasteful synths and subtle percussive elements that blended to an intricate, sensuous melody. Warbles that constantly reminded him how mere, indifferent notes combined could evoke a terrible intimacy, without any need for clarity, that may only leave him with nothing but utter irreversible and seismic devastation. Yet he plays them anyway and simply compartmentalizes for the moment, muscling through the sentimental bullshit he is making out of all of this. It is too early and too cold for that and his kids may awake any minute.

As if on cue, they heard a remarkably loud rapping at the door. Andi slyly giggled and kissed the top of his head now resting in the middle of her chest.

“Let me,” he initiated.

“Breakfast!”, two shrill voices bellowed in unison.

“Yes, Molly and Huck, I will be downstairs in a moment. The first one at the table gets the pie.”

Andi raised her eyebrows at Toby who resumed dressing himself.

“I could still do things fully clothed.”

“As I am aware that you can crazy boy. But pie?”

“Am I to assume that you’ll help yourself?”

“I invoke the fifth to save you from burning the bacon.”

“Okay.”

He headed towards the door as she called out, “It’s more fun when you help anyway.”

Later in the evening, when Toby had put the twins to sleep, he opted to catch up on the late-night shows. He noticed a half-opened package on the coffee table, looked at what’s inside or what’s left of it, and found a book entitled, “A Feast for Crows.”

“Hey, want to help me with something?” a dulcet, silky voice whispered to him and deft hands kneaded his shoulders.

“Is this that fantasy novel they are turning into some television debauchery?”

“One in the series, yes, and by the way, that’s from your sister. I think it was her way of telling me to stop you from raising guerrilla leading kids and to shut you up.”

“This supposedly brutal and bleak fiction is her proposed alternative? Great!”

“I’d take that over the Colfax Massacre or Bloody Monday for god’s sake Toby. Let Molly and Huck enjoy being sane seven-year-olds.”

“Okay, but now you can shut me up with that thing you wanted help with.”

* * *

After Dee's call, he whispered something to Vince eliciting furrowed brows on the lanky lad, and then addressed CJ again.

"It is my pleasure to finally meet you in person. My mom always loved watching your briefings and some of your recorded talks on the web."

CJ blushed and uttered a thanks.

"Was your mom able to see that briefing with your esteemed professor suggesting that Miss Cregg-Concannon could swat the terrorists in Ramallah with her purse?" Vince boldly jived at Toby again.

"And the tracker had always worked Professor Z," Vince cut the grouchy man off even before he could start a clever retort. "We just made sure we show up when you're with a gorgeous date." 

* * *

November 2010

"I’m handing you over to my gorgeous date now,” CJ heard Danny proclaim.

“It’s Josh," Danny whispered, giving his phone to CJ knowing she was already wrapping up her other call.

CJ thanked him with a quick peck on the redhead's sunburnt beard causing a loud "Ow". She muttered a sultry sorry and kissed him on the neck. Danny softly held her dainty waist and breathed a hiss of retribution that made CJ giggle and bite her lower lip.

"Danny? Hello? CJ? Claudia Jean!," an all too familiar barking was heard over Danny's phone reminding both that Josh was on the other end.

"See ya later," Danny coyly pinched CJ, smirking, and went back to check on their daughter who was thankfully asleep the entire time they had their date night at home - her cooking dinner and he in charge with the dessert.

"I'm here Mrs. Bennet, " CJ responded.

"Hey how’s Thea?” Josh inanely inquired.

"Come on Josh. I know you’ve already asked Danny about our daughter, how he is, how I am. I bet you even talked about the weather, and the latest in sports, so stop beating around the bush, what can I do for you?”

There was a long pause and CJ checked the phone’s screen to see if the call got disconnected.

"Josh?"

"Um, I just wanted to ask if...when," the unlikely hesitant tone troubled her a little but she waited.

"If it was Danny or was it Hollis, his queen of African road infrastructure offer? Or both? Or...I mean, when did you know that...you know?" he blabbered.

CJ now owes Danny twenty bucks.

"Eight years and the confluence of many, many things Josh."

"I almost asked Donna to marry me."

Fuck. Now CJ owes Danny fifty bucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I imagine Vince to be Manny Jacinto and Dee as Michael B. Jordan  
> 2) Yes Toby is seeing a shrink because instead of the shuttle leak arc, I had something else in mind which will be explained in some later chapter  
> 3) Forgive me for my grim Josh-Donna situation  
> 4) Feedback is always appreciated and I apologize once again for the lack of "tense" continuity


End file.
